Theatre Of Hate – Burning Rome / Biber Records – 1982

The Original Sin / Do You Believe In The Westworld / The Klan / Conquistador / Poppies

Incinarator / Judgement Hymn / 63 / Rebel Without A Brain / Legion

Uploaded today is the third live release by Theatre Of Hate. The first was a cassette tape recorded at the Lyceum in London, the second was an LP recorded at the Warehouse in Leeds, and the third was an LP recorded at the Tempodrom in (the then separated) West Berlin. This particular LP was released in the UK and in Germany at the same time in 1982 on two different record labels and in two different sleeves. I own both, so I have scanned the artwork on both. The recording is exactly the same on both releases.

The reason why Terry Razor, the then manager of Theatre Of Hate, oversaw so many official bootlegs released throughout the short life time of Theatre Of Hate was to counter the dozens of much worse quality bootlegs ending up on London based bootleg stalls in Hanway Street and Portobello Road!

By the time this official bootleg was released Theatre Of Hate had recorded and released there first and only studio LP ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld’ produced by Mick Jones of The Clash. This LP, and the singles from it, got the band some chart recognition and appearances on several television shows.

Both the previous live releases by Theatre Of Hate are available on KYPP if you use the search function entering the band name therein.

Text below from Wikki…

In 1980, The Pack evolved into Theatre of Hate, with Luke Rendle replacing Walker on drums, Stan Stammers joining on bass, Steve Guthrie on guitar and John ‘Boy’ Lennard on sax (the Werners joined The Straps, who Stan Stammers had previously played for). The first Theatre of Hate release was the “Original Sin” single in November 1980, which reached No. 5 on the UK Indie Chart. Theatre of Hate garnered much early attention as a live act and made their album debut in 1981 with the concert LP ‘He Who Dares Wins (Live at the Warehouse Leeds)’. Steve Guthrie left the band shortly after the album’s release. Another concert recording followed, ‘Live at the Lyceum’ on cassette format only.

In August 1981, Theatre of Hate entered the studio with producer Mick Jones of The Clash to record their first non-live album debut, ‘Westworld’, released in February 1982. Shortly after the album was recorded, new guitarist Billy Duffy (formerly of The Nosebleeds) joined the band, and soon after that, drummer Luke Rendle was replaced by Nigel Preston. The album reached No. 17 in the UK Albums Chart, and also spawned the Top 40 single “Do You Believe in the West World”.

In February 1982, Theatre of Hate released another live album, ‘He Who Dares Wins (Live in Berlin)’ recorded in September 1981.

Billy Duffy left the band to join Death Cult in April 1982. Theatre of Hate continued for a short time before splitting up later that year. Demos for their unreleased second studio album were released as ‘Ten Years After’ in 1993.

Brandon went on to front Spear of Destiny with bassist Stan Stammers. Theatre Of Hate’s post break-up compilation album ‘Revolution’ spent three weeks in the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 67. Nigel Preston joined his former band mate Billy Duffy as drummer for The Cult, playing on their 1984 album ‘Dreamtime’.

Last night; Theatre Of Hate performed a thumping and triumphant thirty years anniversary performance of the ‘Do You Believe In The Westworld’ era in Islington attended by myself, Tony D and a cast of other notables. The addition of Stan Stammers and his bass wrestling along with John Boy’s sublime saxophone work created a solid reconstruction of a performance that I had not seen for thirty years. A wonderful performance from a band that I loved during the early eighties.

Tony D and Sandra were both supporters of Theatre Of Hate in the band’s original lifetime following on from both being in attendance at many of Kirk Brandon’s earlier gigs when he was a member of The Pack. Sandra went along to many gigs with Theatre Of Hate in the back their van; elbow deep amongst all the equipment for her sins!

Tony D meets up with Janet Spagetti Hagar and Ruth Hagar for the very first time in three decades at the York pub in Islington. A lovely moment for sure.

Aside from the above folk; Jim Wafford, Mike Slaughter, Gaz DIRT, Kate (who travelled all the way from Plymouth for this Theatre Of Hate performance), Doiran and Jeff also deserve special mention for making the night at Theatre Of Hate a wonderful experience.